Walmart’s Black Friday, Thanksgiving Plans Try To Control Crowds: Will They Work?

Walmart is stepping up the number of sale items on its website and revising its system that guarantees availability of certain hot-ticket items over Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday to control crowds during the busiest shopping season of the year.

On Tuesday, the nation’s largest retailer announced that it is launching pre-Black Friday savings starting this Friday by lowering prices on popular toys and electronics to match offers from Best Buy, Target and Toys “R” Us one week early. Walmart is also extending its Christmas ad matching policy, which was previously limited to in-store purchases, to Walmart.com customers, from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24.

“Walmart’s not going to be beat on price,” Steve Bratspies, executive vice president, general merchandise for Walmart U.S., told reporters on Tuesday.

Over 100 toys will be a part of the pre-Black Friday deals that begin on Friday. Among the deals are Hot Wheels cars, which are Walmart’s biggest unit mover in its toy department, on sale for 60 cents from 97 cents. A game of Monopoly will be available for $5, down from its usual price of $11.77.